Unmasked Warrior
by Digi Garden
Summary: Paper Mario AU 2 years after the defeat of the Shadow Queen, Koops was taught to use dark powers. But through jealousy of King K, he went to kill him, only to make a mistake.
1. Murder Story

**Disclaimer**: All characters, unless I say it's a fan character or such, belongs to Nintendo. Also, this is an alternate ending to _Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door_ that I made up, so if something doesn't sound right, this is likely the reason.

Also, as an extra note, regular text is from Koops' POV, while the (somewhat) brief text that looks like "**_this_**" is from Bobbery's POV, and "**this**" text is from Parakarry's POV. This makes _Unmasked Warrior_ the first of my (Izumo's) fics to have three POV's in one chapter!

As I hid in my shell, I spun it around, readying for a powerful Shell Slam attack. My target was the Shadow Queen, a purple, shadow-like being with long strands of pink hair, large claws for hands, and donned a tall golden crown with red jewels. After a few seconds of powering up, I charged towards the shady being, finishing her off.

As black smoke started to disintegrate the Shadow Queen's lower body, dragging her into the stone gray coffin behind her, she cried out, "I may have lost, but if I go down _this_ time." She then grabbed me with one of her long hands and concluded, "Then you're going with me!"

Right before I plunged into her dark vortex, I called out to Mario, the mustached plumber wearing blue overalls over a red shirt, and wore a red hat with a red "M" on his head, "Mario! Help me--!" Unfortunately, he didn't seem to hear me, as for a split second, I saw him run away with an old black Bob-Omb with a white mustache, a wooden steering wheel on his back, and wearing a white sailor hat.

**_As we ran away from the room with the dark vortex leading to who-knows-where, I felt regrets as to why we couldn't save Koops from the Shadow Queen's wrath. But Mario seemed unaware of this. In fact, he looked quite happy._**

**_"Mario, my boy, I'm gonna have to break it to ya. Were you even aware that the Shadow Queen dragged Koops into that vortex? Do you feel _anything_ from that?" Mario said he was aware of it, but then he said that it was Koops' fault for standing up to the Queen. "Mario! That wasn't his fault! That witch just grabbed him and led him to his doom!" Mario said nothing then._**

When I opened my eyes, I thought to myself, "Am I dead?" I stood up from where I lay and looked around, only to find nothing but pitch-black darkness. "Hello? Anybody here," I asked, hoping for some reply. Then I heard an elegant voice, and then the bright pink lips and hair from the Shadow Queen appear from the darkness.

"Well, I'm here. And you're my slave," the voice replied. "But for now, I'm going to have to teach you to adapt to the ways of the dark… The power of darkness." I gasped, trying to calm down in order to prevent myself from panicking, and tried to make a run for it. But suddenly, black smoke formed from my left leg, morphing into a chain attached to the ground. "You won't get away that easily. You cannot escape from me until you learn." I looked at her now-revealed slender violet face, and as she placed a hand on my head, my gray eyes turned dull and black.

Over the two years that I was stuck with the Queen, I learned a plethora of dark powers, such as summoning the undead or weapons, sinking into the shadows, and most powerful of all: creating an earth-shattering blast with my bare hands. But then I started to miss my old life in Petalburg… But I missed my girlfriend, Koopie Koo, the most.

The womanly shadow being noticed my forlorn expression and crept up to me. "Why the long face, my child?" I told her that I miss my old life, and that I want to see Koopie Koo just once, to see how she's doing. "Well, then. That shouldn't be too hard," she said quite eerily as she molded an elliptical mirror with a golden frame out of black smoke pouring from her fingertips. She then summoned a small pink sprite from the ground. With the mirror hovering in midair, the sprite circled it vertically, and an image appeared.

A female Koopa with curly blonde hair held back by a red headband, blue eyes, and wearing red shorts under her green shell, strolled around in my living room along the wooden floor. She had a look of glee on her face as a Koopa wearing sunglasses over his reddish eyes, a spiked collar and matching bracelets, and a yellow shell walked in.

"King K! You're back! So, how was Glitzville," the female Koopa asked the yellow-shelled Koopa.

"Same ol', Koopie, my girl," King K—the yellow-shelled Koopa—replied. "So, _baby_, how was work at the inn?"

Koopie Koo giggled at King K's slang, and said joyfully, "Just fine, dear." The look of joy wore off her face. "But it's just… I sort of miss my old boyfriend, Koops."

King K smirked and said slyly, "That wimp? Forget 'im! You got me for a husband, baby, and ain't nothin' that'll change that!"

Before I could stand any more of it, I punched the mirror and walked away as the image disappeared and the reflective glass shattered to pieces.

As I stood alone in the darkness, my fists clenched in fury, the couple's voices echoed in my head. _How could Koopie just ditch me for that jerk_, I thought to myself as I summoned a dagger from my right fist. _Well, if I have to do so… I'll take back what was taken away from me in the first place!_

After summoning myself a portal to the living world and stepping in, I found myself in Koopie Koo's closet. Stepping out of the closet, I looked out the window to my left; the sky looked dark, and small white diamonds sparkled the endless horizons. The moonlight shone from above, streaming down upon the floor. _Must be a few minutes to midnight. Perfect._

I climbed up the creaky stairs, making each step slow and steady so the two upstairs don't hear. When I reached the top, I squinted through the now-almost-complete darkness to find the bed. Luckily, the floor felt empty from the way my feet crept through it flawlessly and silently. When I found the bed the couple slept on, I slid a dagger from my blue shorts pocket, raised it above the slumbering Koopa in front of me, and stabbed him.

But right as the blade slain the Koopa, I heard an ear-piercing female scream. My eyes now adjusted to the darkness, I realized my true kill… Koopie Koo.

"What? Who's there," King K asked in shock from the scream. In a split second, as he picked up a flashlight from the nearby counter and waved it towards Koopie Koo, I sank into the shadows, feeling guilt about my own actions.

**As I strolled through Petalburg peacefully this morning, (since today was Sunday, and the Toad Town Post Office is closed on Sundays) I heard a calamity of voices coming from nearby. News reporters and cameramen gathered around the front door of a yellow, two-story house, asking questions all at once to a yellow-shelled Koopa.**

"**King K, who do you think could've done this," one female reporter asked loudly, sounding the loudest out of the reporters.**

**The yellow-shelled Koopa shrugged and said, "I coulda said Koops, but he's a wimp who loves her too much to kill 'er. 'Sides, he disappeared two years ago, so I say he's long gone, like my baby girl!"**

**Murder? This sounds serious… I thought to myself as I stepped closer, wanting to listen better. Suddenly, a hand touched my shoulder, and I turned to find a female Paratroopa with a green shell, black hair, and bright blue eyes like mine, but wearing a black suit.**

"**Aerith, of the KSI," the female Paratroopa said in a serious tone as she took out a black leather wallet with her ID from her suit. "And by the code of the KSI, unless you're from the media or a member, which you're neither, you're not to get within three meters of this area." She cocked an eyebrow as she stared at me for a second. "That aviator's helmet… That green shell…. Are you Parakarry, of the Toad Town Post Office?"**

**I nodded my head in certainty. "Yes, I am. But I'm on break. The Post Office is closed on Sundays, you know."**

"**I know that, you dunce." She then took out a letter from her suit and gave it to me. "But here is a letter to Mayor Kroop, the mayor of Petalburg. It involves the incident here, nothing else important. Unfortunately, he's out of town, probably to Koopa Village, where Koopa Koot lives. Take this to him, and **don't open it."

**I saluted, giving her my trust. "You have my word! For I am the hardest-working mailman of the Mushroom Kingdom!"**

"**Good. Now get," she ordered as she pointed to the direction behind her. I waved her goodbye, and I took off to Koopa Village.**

**Seven hours later, I landed in front of a white house with a brown roof shaped like a turtle shell. I knocked the wooden door, and an old green Koopa with eyebrows so bushy, they cover his eyes, a green shell, and holding a wooden cane, answered it. "Huh? Who are you? Thief--! Oh, wait. You're the mailman. Uh, what's your name? Pancake-curry, right? Well, come on in!"**

**As I shrugged and stepped in, I saw another old green Koopa, but with no eyebrows, sitting on a red chair. "Welcome, young Pancake-curry! Have a seat. So, what business do you have here, my funny-named mailman?" I told him about the letter to Mayor Kroop from the KSI about the incident in Petalburg, and then gave the letter to the Koopa with the bushy eyebrows.**

"**What? Something's wrong in Petalburg," Kroop asked as he opened the letter. As he read it, he shouted, "Flight of Paratroopas! A murder?"**

**As he shouted the word "murder", a young Koopa of about nineteen years with blue-purple eyes, a blue shell, and wearing a red bandana around his neck ran in. "Murder? Where," the Koopa said, almost panicking.**

**I chuckled and said, "There's no murder here, Kooper. But there is one in Petalburg."**

"**Petalburg? Where's that?"**

"**It's a Koopa town far from here. It took me seven hours to get here from there."**

**Kooper paused, then said, "Speaking of 'Koopa', I got something from when Kolorado and I went on an expedition of Dry Dry Ruins." He then gestured me to follow, so I said goodbye to the old Koopas and followed Kooper next door to a house that looked like the Mayor's house, but with a green roof.**

**When I walked in, I had a look of surprise on my face. In front of me sat a young Koopa that looks about nine years old in appearance, with blue eyes and wearing a white dress with blue rims, and a yellow and orange Pharaoh's crown with blue and purple strips, and a Chomp-shaped crest on the front.**

"**Parakarry, don't you remember Tutankoopa? The Koopa spirit who haunted the Dry Dry Ruins? Well, I made a deal with him. He can live with me, and I help him avenge the one who murdered him."**

**I sighed and said, "Kooper, Tutankoopa is a three-thousand year-old spirit. His 'murderer' is probably long gone by now."**

**Tutankoopa pouted in his chair. "Well, maybe he's still alive. Anything could happen with the use of black magic."**

**Kooper looked at Tutankoopa in excitement. "Black magic? Black magic existed in your time?" Then he paused and tilted his head. "What's 'black magic'?"**

"**Black magic is, basically, a curse or a hex," Tutankoopa answered in a tone, which made Kooper sound stupid.**

**I intervened into the conversation. "So, you think you were killed by black magic?"**

**Tutankoopa nodded. "Well, it's mainly a—how do you say it? —theory of mine. But from what I remember, I wasn't stabbed or beaten up or anything of the sort. In fact, I've never seen my killer's face. Which is why I think so."**

**I nodded, following every word. "Well, it sounds quite possible." Standing straight, I bowed to Kooper and Tutankoopa and said, "Well, I have to go now. It was nice to meet you again."**

**As I left for the door, Kooper grabbed my hand and said, "Wait! We'll come with you!" I thought it over, my eyes moving about, and then I accepted their request. "Yes! I have to go to Twilight Town to retrieve something from Kolorado, anyway. Besides, Tutankoopa needs to get outside the house and see new things." As we stepped outside of Kooper's house, he asked, "By the way, you mind if we walk?"**

Well, I hoped you enjoyed that:) Ch. 2 will be coming up sometime soon.


	2. The Bell Tolls for Twilight Town

**Note**: From here on, the regular text will be from Parakarry's POV unless I say it's someone else who primarily takes over a chapter.

"Man! I thought we're walking," Kooper complained as he grabbed on tightly to my hand.

"Shut up, Kooper. It's no picnic having to carry two people, including _you_," I replied.

"Just what do you mean by _that_?"

"Nothing. Anyway, Twilight Town is an eleven-hour trip on foot, and I wanted to get there sooner. Mainly so you can get that package from Kolorado."

After about nine hours of flying and stopping at following towns, we finally reached Twilight Town, a place always lit up with the light of dusk, lined with shanty wooden houses and leafless trees with crows roosting on the branches. As we landed on the dark, dry soil of the town, we saw the residents—hooded yellow-eyed humanoids in rags with shadows on their faces—hustling and bustling in panic.

One resident in particular, a plump woman in blue and pink rags and with brown curly hair, ran up to me and shouted rapidly, "This is from Kolorado; he told me to give it to you so you could give it to someone named Kooper. I don't know who he is, but I have to find my children before the bell--"

A "Ding-dong" sound that sounded like it came from a large church bell cut off the woman's words. And in the instant that the bell finished ringing, the woman disappeared in a puff of fiery smoke. The only thing that remained was the package, slightly covered in ash, sitting there in front of us.

"Oh, no! Not Eve," one of the other residents said, panicking. This made three kids, each wearing a different-colored hood, crying and mourning for their lost mother.

As Kooper picked up the package, Tutankoopa scurried over to one of the residents, a young adult in light brown rags, and asked, "What's going on? Why are people running around, and what happened to that lady over there?"

"Where she is we don't know. But the bell tower in Creepy Steeple is cursed… Again! But this time, instead of turning us to pigs, we disappear in a puff of smoke."

"Let's say this: if we reverse the curse—or at least, prevent it from going further—will you…?"

"You? Break the curse? Impossible! You're just a bunch of Koopas. And you, in particular, a kid. Best you escape before you disappear like so."

"I don't care! Whether or not we make it, it's as long as we tried," Kooper cut into the conversation. He then grabbed Tutankoopa's hand and ran towards the dark brown wooden gate that limited the city.

"Kooper, wait!" I ran to catch up to them, but they already jumped over the gate and dashed for the woods. I figured I had no choice but to follow, so I spread my wings out and took off.

I searched for them in a bird's eye view above the forest, and saw them head towards an old church made of gray stone. _This must be the Creepy Steeple_, I thought as I made a perfect landing in front of the rusty steel gate that blocked out unwanted visitors. Still running, Kooper and Tutankoopa saw me and skidded to a stop.

"Kooper, you don't know what you're getting into! You could get hurt or dead, or worse," I cautioned him while giving him a stern look. "Besides, the gate's locked."

"Parakarry, quit acting like a mother and let's go," Kooper replied, annoyed by my warning, and kicked the gate, which broke the lock into pieces. "We got nothing to worry about. We just go in, give the curse-maker a can of whoop-ass, break the spell, and leave!"

I shook my head and said, "Kooper, you tend to be a bit too overconfident--" I stopped in account of the fact that the two already made a run for the front door. I gave an exasperated sigh and walked through the broken gate to the church.

When I entered the church, I took a look at my surroundings, looking for Kooper and Tutankoopa. Four pillars, lined up in two rows several feet away from each other, held up the place, and a thin, red carpet trailed from the front door to a large seven-foot statue of a star on a stone platform. Despite its simplicity, I embraced myself to the star monument, and I started to read the words stamped onto the gilded plate on the front of the platform.

It read, "In honor of the fourth Child of Hope, whom helped to save the world from another chaotic experience: the Great Chaos. Year of Birth: 'Heart-Star-X-Circle'."

Heart, Star, X, and Circle… All were symbols used to determine days and years in our time. The Squeeks and Koopas worked together three thousand years ago to create this system. From what I remembered learning from an old friend of mine, Heart is equivalent to the number two, Star for one, X for three, and circle for zero. The year this "fourth Child of Hope" was born was in the year 2130, about one hundred years ago.

Suddenly, I heard a scream coming from above. That sounded like Tutankoopa, I thought as I ran through a door to the left of the second western pillar from the entrance. When I opened the door, I found out that this was one of the side exits to an outer area. I walked to my right until I found a red switch, which looked like a red box with a semi-transparent white "!" mark inside. I removed a steel sword-staff, the sword side quite long and the staff looking like a long pole with four small red rubies on one side, and bashed the switch. I heard a rumbling sound, as if an earthquake just hit, and when it stopped, I entered the nearby door.

The room I just entered had three doors and one set of stairs, except that the doors are up high against the wall, and the steps sat in front of one of them. I went up the stairs, and found myself on a small hallway above the ground floor, with a stained glass portrait of a close-up of a Duplighost with red eyes and wearing a party hat with red paper strands at the tip and a light blue bow. I embraced the way the portrait gleams in the moonlight, but pondered about its origin. _It looks familiar to me, but I can't seem to remember where._

At the end of the hallway, I opened the door and found a set of spiraling steps that lead to the top. Wanting to end this nonsense soon enough, I simply flew to the top platform, which had a blue spring-like device and a hole above it, and flew through the hole. After entering the top floor, I realized that I was on the uppermost floor of the bell tower, whereas a large brass bell hung on the wooden railings above me.

In front of me was a Duplighost that looked like the one from the stained glass portrait: red eyes and wearing a blue party hat with red stars and had two red paper strands at the tip, and around his "neck" was a light blue bow hanging loosely. The Duplighost had Kooper in a headlock, and his foot on a tied and gagged Tutankoopa.

"So, we meet again," the Duplighost said to me as he smirked. "Unfortunately, your friends have disturbed my peace and, of course, they had to be punished somehow. So I'm gonna cut the string of the church bell, and as it crashes through the floor, it will crush your little friend as well." He walked over to the edge of the wide-open edge of the tower and slammed Kooper onto the ground. "As for this dumbbell, I was just thinking of simply throwing him off. His shell could protect his body from all kinds of danger, but I doubt it'll protect him from the impact of the fall."

With my sword-staff in hand, I prepared myself to defend against whatever attack he might throw at me. "I won't allow you to do that. If I defeat you, you'll let my friends go, and you'll reverse the curse you set!"

He chuckled maliciously and accepted my challenge. "But if you lose, then the bell tolls for _everyone_!" He smiled smugly and said, "Mario may have defeated me twice two years ago, but fortunately, now I have the upper hand. Not only is Mario not here…" He then took out two golden axes with long poles and four blades that rotate like a windmill's fans. "But I get to test these out. Say goodbye, Parakarry!"

He lunged at me with the axe on his left hand, but I leapt aside, dodging the attack. He attacked with the other, but to no avail. With a look of frustration, he rapidly hacked and slashed me with both weapons, and after blocking six of the hits, the seventh sliced my sword-staff in half. In order to arm myself and defend the flurry of rotating axe attacks, I picked up the sword half of my broken weapon and parried more of the Duplighost's enraged attacks.

Lowering the rotary axes, the Duplighost shouted, "You've pissed me off long enough! I'll show you my true power!" He then transformed himself into Kooper, but with blood red eyes instead of Kooper's usual blue-purple color. In Kooper's voice, he said, "Now I'm handing over your ass in a silver platter!"

Once again, he hacked and slashed at me using his axes, but unlike last time, with his newfound fury, he managed to land a few random hits onto me. But it also left him vulnerable to attack, so I spun and gave him a roundhouse kick in the stomach. As he fell back, he transformed back into his usual form. Swinging the axe horizontally, he accidentally cut the rope that supported the bell, and the bell came crashing down hard. Not wanting to become involved, the Duplighost transformed into a red-eyed duplicate of me and pushed me off the tower, continuing the battle in midair.

When the bell crashed onto the ground floor, I pushed the duplicate off of me and rushed to examine the crash site. Worried about Kooper and Tutankoopa, I grabbed the bell and lifted it high above my head, to find Tutankoopa safe and untied, but with an older Koopa, about twenty years, with gray eyes, a green shell, and wearing a tattered gray gym shirt and blue shorts, holding onto him.

"S-s-sorry, sir," the Koopa whispered as he let go of the young pharaoh Koopa. "I-I was just… Trying to rescue him… To atone for my s-sin…" As he said the word "sin", the Koopa sank into the shadows, disappearing out of sight.

_Huh? What sin?_ I wondered as the Duplighost, back in his original form, turned to face me.

"Parakarry, don't you remember me," the Duplighost asked me with a worried look on his face. "It's me, Doopliss. You know, from seven years ago? You introduced me to this place, you celebrated my birthday with your friends…" Doopliss then looked up at the stained glass portrait of himself and continued, "You made that portrait for me. _You_ gave me what I never had before when my mom left me: love, affection, a good home…"

"Aw, quit the bullshit! You're making me want to gag," a familiar voice complained. We looked up to find Kooper sitting on the edge of the hallway in front of the portrait. He jumped to the floor and said, "But I'll let it go. Just as long as no one dares to do something like what I did." He dipped his head and looked up to me regretfully. "I hope you can forgive me. I just wanted to help the town. But I underestimated this. It was stupid and I promise I won't do it again."

After pausing for a second, I walked up to Kooper and patted him on the head. "You're forgiven. But you almost had me worried for a second there." I turned towards Doopliss. "I'm sorry if I've forgotten you. Will you forgive me?"

Doopliss thought it over, then he nodded and answered, "Yes. I'll forgive you." Then he ran over and hugged me, burying his face in my chest, and whispered, "Thank you… For everything."

"You're welcome, Doopliss," Parakarry replied softly. As he let me out of his grasp, I asked, "But what about the curse? Is it broken?"

"Unfortunately, it isn't. But the spell won't affect any more people. The true medium for the spell was this very place. The rope that held the bell acted like a link from the medium to the bell. But now that the rope is torn, the curse won't work anymore, even though it's rushing through this church from inside the walls and floors."

After brushing the soot off the package he received, he said carelessly, "Who cares about a few people who are probably gone forever? I wanna open this _right now_!" With a grin on his face, he tore the brown wrapping off the package as if he just received a Christmas present. "Hey. It's a… A… It's nothing!"

A piece of paper lay inside the box, past all the little squiggly Styrofoam thingies. The paper was a note saying (with several spelling mistakes, and a bunch of exclamation marks), "_GOTCHA! u actually expet dat idjit Kolorado 2 give u somethin'! well, u r RONG!11111 Wee O U—The Koopa Bros._ **XD**"

Crumpling the note with his right fist, he shook his left fist and shouted "_No_!" which echoed throughout the entire church. I patted Kooper's back in encouragingly and said, "Don't worry, Kooper. You'll have your little revenge someday."

Doopliss, who had his attention diverted to the star statue, slipped an old-looking note from behind the star. Doopliss read the note aloud, which read:

"_Dear Doopliss,_

_I am unfortunate to have left from so long ago. But a fortuneteller predicted that you would soon live in this very building. So I slipped this note behind the star on the statue, where no one who enters will find it at first sight of it. And in case you've read the writing on the plate, you may be wondering about the fourth Child of Hope and who he is. But that is of no importance right now._

_The real reason I've written this letter is to ask if you want to visit your old man. With this note is a map of the entire continent, from little, barely noticed Duplitown to large, best-known Toad Town, home to Princess Peach. Use it, and you might find yourself in a world of adventure._

_Love, Your father_

_**P.S**.: If possible, visit your mother for a bit. I think she misses you._

_**P.S.S**.: Can you _**please**_, with a cherry on top, ask your mother about the recipe to that wonderful Chocolate Cake she makes? ("Heart")_

_**P.S.S.S**.: Get a girlfriend._"

"Well, he's right. I've got to visit my mother and him… And get a girlfriend."

Recovering from his trauma with the fake package, Kooper threw away the prank box and shouted confidently, "Well, what're you waitin' for? Let's go! With that map, we'll find your parents!" He then patted Doopliss in the head. "And don't worry. You'll find the perfect girl sooner or later."

With a sweat-drop, I said to Tutankoopa, "Let's just go."

"Yep. Let's just go," Tutankoopa replied as we left Kooper and Doopliss behind.

(And that was when they started to chase us.)

(XD) Yeah, I added some weird humor at the end, just for the heck of it. Stay tuned for Ch. 3!


	3. To Tell the Truth

Note yourself that this is one of the shorter chapters in the story so far. It's mainly a "fight-comes-between-two-characters-and-then-they-solve-it-with-hugs-and-therapy"-type of chapters. And this may not be the first chapter in which something like this happens.

As I continued to (you guessed it) fly, with Tutankoopa on my back, Kooper grabbing onto my hands for his dear life, and Doopliss flying above me as a red-eyed crow, Kooper asked in an annoyed manner, "Um, Parakarry, why are we do we still have to fly?"

"Because Shiver City is _even further_ than Twilight Town by flight, and I don't feel like walking that far," I replied as we landed on the side of a snow-filled road. Tutankoopa, who never before experienced snow before, touched the snow with his toe and winced back onto my back, shivering. But Doopliss, as a Duplighost, whom can adapt to virtually every kind of climate, walked onto the ground without any problems. But Kooper, due to his cold-bloodedness, shivered as the cold winds blew by.

"H-h-h-hey, P-P-Parakarry! Why aren't you c-cold?" Kooper asked.

I simply shrugged and answered, "I dunno. Maybe it's because I've been flying around here for so long, I've grown to ignore it." Then, taking Tutankoopa off of my back and into my arms, I placed him on the ground gently, while still holding his hands. At first, he felt chills rise up his spine, but after a few steps, he started to walk normally. I chuckled and said to Kooper, "Well this is kind of a sad thing for you when a young Koopa spirit got used to this weather faster than you."

Kooper just crossed his arms and muttered, "Shut up. Just shut up."

As the goggles I wore started to get foggy from the chill, I pulled them up, revealing light blue eyes, and two strands of black hair stuck out in front of my face from under my aviator's helmet. "There. That's better," I sighed as I laid my back onto a gray rock nearby. Suddenly, with a look of shock on his face, Kooper pointed his finger at me and froze in place. "What's wrong, Kooper? You look like you've just seen a ghost. And isn't it wrong to point at people?"

"Y-y-y… You're Sky Aerith," Kooper suddenly shouted out.

"So? Aerith's my last name. Whoopee doo," I replied unenthusiastically.

"_So?_ You're the bastard from the Dark Koopa Army who killed my father, imprisoned my mother, betrayed the Dark Koopa Army to side with the PAF during the battle, and then destroyed the entire Dark Koopa Army, as well as a third of the PAF!"

I shook my head in grief. _Great. Another little 'fan' of mine._

"Look at me! I have a question to ask you. How and why in Hell did _you_, a double-crossing psychopath, become a _mailman_," Kooper asked with an angered, determined look on his face.

I paused for a second, then scooted myself so that I sat on the rock. "You see, on my twenty-second birthday, I announced to my friends that I was going to retire. I wanted to do so because I want to live a normal life like everyone else. But I was afraid someone would recognize me and report me, so I burned all my records, especially the ones that mentioned me being in both the PAF and the Dark Koopa Army.

The only thing I kept was my age, birthday, and my first name—Parakarry. When they asked for my last name, I simply said 'Paratroopa', which was my race. I also wore this helmet, which I received from a friend of mine as a gift. Lucky for me, almost nobody else besides Doopliss and me know my first name, so they were duped into thinking I was a completely different person. As for why… I just thought it was a nice job to have, especially with the world-traveling and all."

Kooper, his face down and eyes covered in shadows, asked if everything I said was true, and I nodded in certainty. "In fact, you can wear my helmet if you want," I said happily as I was about to take off my helmet.

"Stop it! Stop it all! Everything you're saying is a lie! I know it from the look in your eyes," Kooper shouted, seceding my actions, and ran away.

I put my hands on my hips. "Sheesh. Sometimes he can be quite rude. I'd better go follow before he does something stupid," I muttered as I dashed in the same direction he ran.

A few minutes later, I saw Kooper several yards in front of me. I tried to run faster, but he was too fast for me, so I took off like a missile, grabbed his shoulder with my left hand, and punched him with my right. As he fell to the ground, I told him sternly, "Kooper, you fool. You've trusted me as a mailman, but you can't trust me as a regular person?"

"You're not a normal person! You're--"

I slapped Kooper in the face with the back of my right hand before he could finish his sentence. "It doesn't matter whether I'm Parakarry or Aerith. I'm still a living Paratroopa who exists on this planet for a reason. Also, to remind you…" I turned away from him, hiding my tears from him. "I'm envious for you. You lived with your parents long enough for you to remember them. I can't even make out their faces. One thing because I was only two when they left me, and second because I'm partly blind in one eye." I pointed at my left eye to show him which one it was. "I still am that way today, though worse. That's why my friend gave me these goggles. As an optometrist who invents for a hobby, he made them himself, to match the helmet. Makes me all the more disguised to the world."

"Wait. But if you can't see well with that eye, then why did you take off your goggles?"

I shook my head. "Just because I can't see well with it doesn't mean I have to wear my goggles twenty-four-seven. Besides, this weather makes them foggy; and even without the ability to see it all with both eyes, I still think this weather's lovely." He turned towards Kooper again. "My eye's not _that_ blind, anyway. I still can see you, but nothing past your shoulder." I chuckled and said, blushing slightly, "Oh, dear. I've appeared to be rambling quite a bit. Enough about me; you talk about yourself."

"Well, I've never told anybody about this except Koopa Koot, but my last name is Koolet. It sounds sort of French, I know. Just don't laugh." At that moment, looking through my good eye, Doopliss took out a Kool-Aid Jammers pouch (tropical punch flavor, it seems to be) and started to drink it. I laughed a bit, from hearing Kooper's last name and Doopliss drinking Kool-Aid, and finding out the similarity in pronunciation. Kooper crossed his arms. "I knew I shouldn't have told you; I thought you would at least not laugh at it. I guess I was wrong."

"It's not really that," I said while I pointed at Doopliss, who still sipped on his Kool-Aid Jammers even when Kooper turned his head to him. When the thirsty Duplighost saw the blue-shelled Koopa looking at him, he put his drink behind his back and blushed as he gave him a cheesy-looking grin. As he turned back towards me, I said, to get back to the subject, "Well, I certainly knew what happened to your parents, so you don't have to mention that if you want to. But just to let you know, I've yearned to find out who my parents were. Or, if they're dead, avenge them. So I know how it feels to lose somebody you've loved." I let Kooper rest upon my shelled-but-vulnerable chest, stroking his shell gently, and concluded, "I'll help free your mother from prison."

"Thank you," Kooper whispered. "Parakarry?"

"What? What is it?"

"I was thinking… Maybe like how my eyes became a mix of light blue with purple because of my parents, maybe you adapt to the cold so well because of what's in your blood."

"Thanks for the suggestion. But I sort of doubt that I have ancestors who get used to this kind of weather." As Kooper stood straight, I gestured to everybody else to follow me.

P-33R T3- K001-41D!1111111 XD Yeah, that was random. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this story so far, and stay tuned for Ch. 4!


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